1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a harness holder for wiring a wire harness without a twist from a vehicle body to a slide door to supply electric power continuously, and a harness layout structure by using the harness holder.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 17, 18 show an example of a harness layout structure of a slide door by prior art Patent Reference 1).
In the structure, a harness protector 42 (a cover is not shown) is provided at a slide door 41 of a car, and a wire harness 43 pushed upwardly by a flat spring 44 is received freely to be flexed in the protector. One end of the wire harness 43 is led out from a front area of the protector 42 and connected with an auxiliary device at the slide door. The other end of the wire harness 43 is wired from an oval bottom opening 45 of the protector 42 through a traversing space 46 to a vehicle body 47, freely to be swung.
FIG. 17 shows the slide door 41 in completely closed condition, and FIG. 18 shows the slide door 41 close to full open in partially open condition. The wire harness 43 is pulled backwardly when the slide door 41 is in the completely closed condition, and pulled forwardly when the slide door 41 is in the full open condition. Although, especially, the wire harness 43 intends to be slacked downwardly when the slide door 41 is in partially opened condition, the wire harness 43 is prevented from the slack to be pushed upwardly by the flat spring 44.
The wire harness 43 is supported at a step portion 48 of the vehicle body 47 or the near area freely to rotate in circumferential direction by a harness holder 51 shown in FIG. 19. Detail of FIG. 19 is referred in patent reference 2.
The harness holder 51 is divided to an upper half and a lower half of synthetic resin housings 52, 53. The housings 52, 53 are respectively provided with a half-circle opening 55 for supporting a corrugated tube 54 covering outside of the wire harness to rotate freely, and a guide wall 56 for guiding the corrugated tube 54 curvedly. A surrounding groove 57 of the synthetic resin corrugated tube 54 engages with the half-circle opening 55.
In accordance with open-and-close of the slide door 41 shown in FIG. 17, 18, the wire harness 43 (the corrugated tube 54) is bent and twisted in circumferential direction (moving rotationally). The twist is absorbed by the harness holder 51. In accordance with open-and-close of the slide door 41, the wire harness 43 swings back and forth. The guide walls 56 guide the wire harness 43 curvedly, so that the wire harness 43 can be prevented from folding.
When using a corrugated tube with an oval cross-section (not shown), by clamping the corrugate tube with a separated rotation member, the rotation member can be supported in a housing to rotate freely in circumferential direction.
References are follows;                Reference 1: Japan Patent Application Laid open 2002-17032, page 4, FIGS. 4–5;        Reference 2: Japan Patent Application Laid open 2002-199558, page 9, FIG. 6.Objects to be Solved        
However, according to aforesaid usual harness holder and the harness layout structure by using that, when an overall height of the protector 42 can be designed high enough as shown in FIG. 20A, 20B, the wire harness 43 is prevented from slacking between the slide door 41 and the vehicle body 47 (the traversing space 46) by the pushing force of the flat spring 44. When the overall height of the protector 42′ cannot be designed so high because of layout of the other parts in the slide door of as shown in FIGS. 21A, 21B (the received length of the wire harness 43 is the same), the flat spring 44 cannot absorb the slack of the wire harness 43, and the wire harness 43 has a slack 43a easily. Thereby, the wire harness 43 may interfere with the vehicle body. And the wire harness 43 may be bent with small radius curve at the harness holder 51, so that the wire harness has folding and stress concentration and is worn or damaged. Also, by opening a slit of the corrugated tube, properties of water proof and dust proof are deteriorated.
The curved guide walls 56 (FIG. 19) project from top, bottom, right and left sides of the harness holder 51, so that the dimensions of the harness holder 51 becomes larger to require a large mounting space at the vehicle body, and the looks becomes worse.
When the weather strip 58 for water proof corresponding to the slide door is disposed in the vicinity of the step portion 48 of the vehicle body, the wire harness 43 having the slack in the partially opened condition of the slide door may interfere with the weather strip 58. Thereby, the corrugated tube and the weather strip 58 would be worn. This drawback may be occurred easily not only in the low profile protector 42′ but also in the high profile protector 42 (FIG. 20).
To overcome the above drawback, an object of this invention is to provide a harness holder, which can prevent a slack of a wire harness and folding with a small radius of the wire harness at the harness holder so that the wire harness can be prevented from wear and damage by stress concentration and interference with the other parts and can be designed to have compact structure, and a harness layout structure by using the harness holder.
How to Attain the Object
In order to attain the object, a harness holder according to the present invention includes an inner clamp member for supporting a wire harness, the inner clamp member having a slack preventing member for preventing slack of the wire harness, and an outer clamp member for supporting rotatably the inner clamp member. The slack preventing member is formed integrally with a surrounding harness guide.
According to the harness holder mentioned above, the wire harness led out in axial direction along the inner clamp member can be securely prevented from slacking by contacting with the slack preventing member. Because the slack preventing member rotates together with the inner clamp member and the wire harness, the slack preventing member would not rub the wire harness in circumferential direction. When the harness holder is disposed at the vehicle body and the wire harness is wired from the harness holder to the slide door, the wire harness is swung and twisted in accordance with open-and-close of the slide door, and the twisting is absorbed by rotation of the inner clamp member. The slack preventing member can prevent securely the wire harness from slacking, which may occur when the harness holder moves closest to a power supply unit at the slide door in the partial opened condition of the slide door.
The wire harness led out in axial direction along the inner clamp member is bent to contact with the harness guide with no radial gap and led to a power supply side. When the harness guide is disposed at the outer clamp member, the wire harness is led out from the inner clamp member and contacts with the harness guide of the outer clamp member. Therefore, the wire harness is folded with a small radius at a top end of the inner clamp member. By providing the harness guide at the inner clamp member, this drawback is prevented, and the wire harness is bent with a large radius, so that bending stress (stress concentration) of the wire harness is relaxed. Because the harness guide rotates together with the inner clamp member and the wire harness, the harness guide would not rub the wire harness in circumferential direction. The wire harness is supported stably to contact with the harness guide when the slide door is in the complete closed condition and in the full opened condition.
The harness holder is further specified by that the slack preventing member has a curved surface which diameter increases outwardly.
According to the harness holder mentioned above, the wire harness is bent along the curved surface of the slack preventing member to have a smooth and large bending radius. If the slack preventing member has no curved surface, the wire harness may be folded easily at the top end of the slack preventing member. The curved surface can prevent the drawback securely. The stress concentration of the wire harness is extremely relaxed.
The harness holder is further specified by that the harness guide has a curved surface which diameter increases outwardly.
According to the harness holder mentioned above, the wire harness is bent along the curved surface of the harness guide to have a smooth and large bending radius. If the harness guide has no curved surface, the wire harness may be folded easily at the top end of the harness guide. The curved surface can prevent the drawback securely. The stress concentration of the wire harness is extremely relaxed.
The harness holder is further specified by that the slack preventing member is formed longer in a direction of leading the harness out than the harness guide.
According to the harness holder mentioned above, the wire harness is supported in a long length by the long slack preventing member, so that the slack of the wire harness is prevented securely. When the slack preventing member has a curved surface, the wire harness is bent smoothly along the curved surface with a large radius.
The harness holder is further specified by that a cutout is disposed oppositely to the slack preventing member and the harness guide is formed shortly at a side of the cutout.
According to the harness holder mentioned above, the wire harness is supported in a short length by the short harness guide. Thereby, the wire harness is led to have a long effective length from the harness guide to the power supply side and a slacked spare length thereof is controlled short. When the harness guide has a curved surface, a bending point of the wire harness moves to deep side of the inner clamp member, and the wire harness is bent with a large radius from the deep side of the inner clamp member. And an extending length of the wire harness toward the slide door is shortened.
The harness holder is further specified by that an opening is formed along a lengthwise of the harness between the harness guide and the slack preventing member.
According to the harness holder mentioned above, the wire harness can be inserted easily along the opening into the inner clamp member. The opening may be disposed at a position on which the wire harness is pushed not strongly to the harness holder during open-and-close operation of the slide door. The opening prevents unexpected contact between the wire harness and the harness holder, and a weight of the harness holder is decreased and resin molding of the inner clamp member is simplified.
The harness holder is further specified by that the harness guide is continued annularly to the slack preventing member.
According to the harness holder mentioned above, the slack preventing member continues integrally in circumferential direction to the harness guide, so that stiffness of each components is large not to be bent and deformed when contacting with the wire harness.
The harness holder is further specified by that the outer clamp member is provided at the top end thereof with a guide surface being positioned on a surface extending along the curved surface of the harness guide.
According to the wiring device mentioned above, the wire harness is bent with a larger radius by contacting with the curved surface of the harness guide and the curved surface of the outer clamp member. Thereby, the stress concentration of the wire harness is more relaxed by contacting with two points.
A harness layout structure by using the harness holder is specified by including the harness holder, being disposed in a vehicle body, and a protector disposed in a slide door, the protector receiving the wire harness with a spring load, and by that the wire harness is wired from the harness holder to the protector, and the wire harness is supported by the slack preventing member when the slide door is opened partly, and the wire harness is supported by the harness guide when the slide door is opened or closed.
According to the harness layout structure mentioned above, when the slide door is closing, the wire harness is led against the spring load toward an opposite direction of close from the protector by the harness holder as a supporting point. When the wire harness is opening, the wire harness is led against the spring load toward an opposite direction of open from the protector by the harness holder as a supporting point. When the slide door is in a partially opened condition, the protector is the closest to the harness holder. Especially, when the total height of the protector is small, the wire harness intends to be slacked even if having the spring load. At the time, the slack preventing member prevents the slack of the wire harness. When the slide door is in the completely closed condition and in the full opened condition, the harness guide bends the wire harness smoothly with a large radius.
The above and other objects and features of this invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.